Nokia launches PureView phone in Bahrain

Manama, June 6, 2012

Nokia has launched its award-winning Nokia 808 PureView, the world’s first smartphone with a 41-megapixel camera and featuring imaging technology with Carl Zeiss optics, in Bahrain.

The Finnish company also launched its Asha range of economically priced smartphones in the kingdom, a device it said would help boost the Nokia presence mainly among the middle and lower middle classes who would find the product functional and affordable.

Tom Farrell, deputy general manager, Nokia Middle East, said 808 PureView was a revolution in imaging technology. He also hailed the partnership with Microsoft forged in February of 2011.

“We crossed 100,000 apps four months faster than Android. Our strategy is working, and the industry, analysts and experts are acknowledging that … Nokia is winning awards,” he said.

The company displayed at a press conference a picture taken from the 808 PureView showing a woman in a snow-swept street in Helsinki.

Discussing the device and the picture, he said: “We can zoom in and not lose quality. You can get a higher level of detail – even a speck of snowflake. This is useful because more and more people are sharing. You have amazing photos to post onto videos and so on.”

He added: “Nobody can come close to Nokia imagery from the 41 megapixel sensor. This is a great example of Nokia innovation.”

808 PureView provides film in high definition and hi-fi incorporating 1080-pixel full HD video recording with up to 4x lossless zoom that is smooth and completely silent. It is the world’s first device to include Rich Recording. This combines a digital microphone and Nokia algorithms to record distortion-free audio at levels of up to 140 dB, Farrell said.

The Nokia products are being distributed by International Agencies Company (Intercol) in Bahrain.

About the Asha range, Farrell said it was key to Nokia’s strategy to capture a huge opportunity in the mainstream market.

According to the official, six out of 10 mobile users in the GCC region use Nokia devices and 30 per cent of downloading daily came from the Nokia store. Smart phones were becoming increasingly popular.

Ten to 12 per cent of mobile phone buyers now go in for smart phones and there was a 280 per cent growth in downloading in the GCC region in 2011, he said.

He expressed the view that there was no precise co-relation between income levels and purchases of mobile handsets as lower income people were not averse to buying more expensive phones if they set their hearts on them.

“Asha is catering to the middle to lower-end market looking for a smart phone experience,” said Farrell. “Nokia is targeting a billion urban youth who are savvy and keen to exploit the advantages of smart phones. The emerging markets of Asia and Africa represent a huge potential as youth there prefer a handy and convenient device to surf and connect with others rather than having to sit before a larger screen.”

The Asha phones gave users a much better experience of accessing the Web faster and at an affordable price, he added. The phones are priced at BD31 ($82) onwards.

Videsh Reddy, general manager, Nokia, Lower Gulf, said: “The Asha store includes 25,000 apps you will download weekly in the GCC area … We see a huge development happening on the Asha platform.”

Reddy explained the features of the Asha series saying it facilitates the social life with Facebook chat (Asha 303, Asha 302 and Asha 200) and WhatsApp (Asha 303, 302 and 300).

The range makes connection to Facebook and Twitter feeds with all social networks in one place and Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity (Asha 303) and fast and affordable internet with browser. It also promotes total entertainment with capability to choose from thousands of apps from the Nokia store, tune in to favourite stations with an FM stereo radio and pre-load Angry Birds Lite.

Nokia maps are available with the 303 model which also has a camera of 3.2 megapixels/4 x digital zoom and a full-focus, full-screen viewfinder, self-timer, sequence mode and still image editor.

Asha 200 has a camera of 2 megapixels/4 x digital zoom with full screen viewfinder, self-timer and still image editor. The internet speed in the 302 and 303 models are 3.5 G with the 300 model having 3 G and the 200 model 2 G.

W-Lan support is available with the 302 and 303 models. Memory in the 302 and 303 models is 100 MB free with 32 GB support while in the 200 model memory comes at 10 MB free with 32 GB support and in the 300 model 140 MB free with 32 GB support.

Nokia has also introduced four Lumia devices at various price points, including the Lumia 900,800,710 and 610.

To date, Nokia Lumia range is being sold in over 31 markets. The Windows platform has also witnessed an 800 per cent growth in terms of apps offered for Nokia Lumia devices (from 7000 to 65,000 apps). The Lumia 900 also won 13 awards at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) including the best of show at CES. – TradeArabia News Service